Jingle Bones
by Brennanite47
Summary: First in "The Secret Series". Fluffy Bones Christmas fic. Booth takes Brennan and Parker back to his hometown in Philly for some family Christmas cheer. B&B friendship, randomness, and romance.
1. Last Day of Work

_**This is basically an Alternate Reality Christmas story. I literally had this dream about a week ago and I had to stop the "The World Beyond the Normal" for a little bit, just long enough so this wouldn't fall out of my small brain.**_

**Jingle Bones**

**Chapter One**

Temperance Brennan went over the last few finishing touches on her latest manuscript. The title read _Chilled To The Bone_, a fitting title if you were going by the weather they were experiencing in D.C. She hit the print button and reclined in her chair as far as it would go. Running her fingers through her hair, she considered the odds of spending the next three days with Limbo cases.

Everyone had plans. Angela and Hodgins were retreating to the Swiss Alps to ski their holiday away, Zack and Cam were both going home to New York and Michigan to be with their families, and no doubt Booth was spending his time with Parker. Brennan had decided not to go on one of her famous anthropology expeditions to the far ends of the Earth this year and decided to stay in D.C. to try to make a dent in Limbo.

At that moment, Booth appeared at her door, his eyes widened in delight. "Hey, is that your new book?"

"Yes, and you still don't get any sneak peeks." she said while swatting his hands away from the papers the printer continued to spit out.

"Hell, Bones, I stopped trying to convince you to let me preview awhile ago. It doesn't seem to get me anywhere anyway." he held his hands out in innocence. "I have a proposition for you." He flashed her one of his infamous charm-smiles.

She sighed. It seemed like whenever Booth had a 'proposition' for her, she ended up doing some horrible, time-consuming paperwork for him. "If you want to dump your federal paperwork on me, think about what happened the last time that happened." she said frankly.

He shuddered at the memory of the case report she'd written for him once. The only reason he'd asked her to was because it was due in an hour and Parker needed to be picked up from school. She'd agreed to do it at the cost of being able to drive the Toyota all week. He didn't even read it before he handed it in to his superiors. Later that evening, Cullen personally came into his office to commend him on the "brilliantly written and detailed" report. He felt like a high school student that had gotten caught enlisting the help of one of the nerds. "It's not that kind of a question, Bones. What are you going to do with your three days off?"

She shrugged, "I was going to work on some Limbo cases, get those reports filed, and call my brother, wish him a merry Christmas."

Booth liked the last one that she had to say. Hell, one out of three wasn't bad in his mind. But he still needed to ask. "I was wondering if you might like to go with me and Parker to Philadelphia. I tell my mom and dad a lot about my partner and they said they'd like to meet her." he smiled.

She didn't believe her ears. Did he just invite her to go and stay with his family for the next three days. Where that came from, she didn't know. Also not being prepared for it, she stuttered. "I-I…that's okay, Booth. I'll just stay here and work these cases. I doubt you want the wrecker of Christmas spirit along for the ride anyway."

That obviously wasn't the response that Booth had been fishing for, "Please Bones? It would mean a lot to Parker. He really likes you and even asked me to give this to you." He slid a piece of folded paper across her desk. "And you are not the wrecker of Christmas, you're just out of practice with what it's about."

Brennan looked up at him before she examined the make-shift card. On the front was a Christmas tree decorated with tiny little bones and a star on top. In the corner, the small boy had written "Dr. Bones" with an ellipse. She opened the card to see an abundance of smiling stick figures with the words "Will you come to Christmas with us? -Love, Parker."

"Did you…?" Brennan was lost for words at the boy's words. She felt like she hardly even knew Parker and was his best friend at the same time.

"He did that all by himself. Like I said, he really likes you." Booth watched his partner's resolve diminish away. Even underneath all the rationality and anthropological crap, there was still a woman's heart beating in that rib cage, one that apparently didn't want to disappoint the little boy.

"When are you leaving?" she whispered.

Booth smiled, "Early tomorrow morning, could you be ready to be on the road by six o'clock? We'll come by and pick you up, but I don't want you to feel pressured into this."

"When have I ever let you pressure me into anything before, Booth?" she asked simply while still looking over the card.

"Point taken, Bones."

Brennan was still hazy on why he wanted her to go with them so bad, more so on why _she _wanted to go with them. "It sounds like you guys want me to go bad enough that you bothered to ask." she said rationally.

"You'll come?" Booth seemed a little shocked that it didn't take more convincing her.

"Yeah. I think I could use a little company."

Booth breathed a sigh of relief, "Bones, I could kiss you. Pack enough stuff for three days and the two of us will pick you up tomorrow at six." he stated as he skipped out.

Brennan flopped back down at her desk as the last pages of her manuscript came out of the printer. She bundled it up and decided to take it to her publisher herself. She slipped on her coat, locked up her office, and strode over to Autopsy. Dr. Camille Saroyan, who Brennan considered and friend and a respected colleague, sat at her desk overlooking case files with fuzzy reindeer antlers on her head and a glass of eggnog. Brennan chuckled slightly as she looked up.

"Dr. Brennan, something I can help you with?" she asked with a smile.

"I was just going to clock out for the day. I have some things that need to be taken care of before holiday madness ensues." she said vaguely while holding up the giant stack of papers that told the story of forensic anthropologist Kathy Reichs and her F.B.I. agent, Andy Lister.

"Sure. Out of any of us, you're the one that deserves a little time to themselves once in a while."

"Thanks Cam. Merry Christmas." she said over her shoulder.

Cam, slightly shocked at the doctor's well wishes, mirrored her saying and wondered what had gotten her spirits so high in the past hour.

* * *

Someone knocked restlessly at the front door to Booth's apartment. He knew that there was only one little boy that tried to bang down his door. He ran to answer it. Opening it, he found a four-year-old Parker running at his legs to hug him.

"Daddy!" he gleefully stated.

"Hey there. Buddy." Booth ruffled his hair, then turned to the boy's mother. "Thank you so much Rebecca. This really means a lot."

"It's no trouble Seeley, he is half yours after all." Rebecca shrugged as she handed him the luggage that Parker would need for the long trip.

"Daddy, did you ask Dr. Bones to come with us? Did you give her my card?" Parker jumped up and down.

"Hold your horses there, Bud. Yes, I asked her and gave her the card. What did I tell you about not getting your hopes up too high?" Booth bent down to look his son straight in the eye.

"I know, I was just wondering if she was coming." Parker said solemnly, getting the idea that Brennan wasn't going with them.

"She said yes, little man." Booth smirked.

Parker's eyes grew wide with delight, "She DID?! Oh, boy!" he ran off to his room, apparently looking for something.

"Dr. Brennan is going home with you to Philly?" Rebecca asked.

Booth met her gaze. "Yeah, Parker asked me to ask her and my parents wanna meet the partner I speak so highly of. Is that a problem?"

Rebecca shook her head. "Not in the least. She's a good role model for Parker."

"What do you mean by that? Cause I don't want Parker to turn out just like Bones." Booth shuddered at the mental image of his own son, his flesh and blood, growing into a squint.

"Well, I came into the living room the other day and Parker was sitting there with this book in his lap, no TV or anything. I looked at it and it was an encyclopedia. I know Parker couldn't read it, but I asked him what he was doing with it. He said he was trying to get as smart as Dr. Bones." Rebecca said.

Booth chuckled and shook his head, "He really said that?"

She nodded, "I know you pick on her a lot, Seeley, for being so smart, but if she can inspire our kid to read the encyclopedia, then I think she's a good influence. You know it wouldn't hurt if you were _dating_ her either, you know. She'd be a good influence on you, too." Rebecca grinned.

He gave her a fake laugh, "Seriously, Rebecca, Bones and I are just partners and friends."

She rolled her eyes, "Uh-huh, sure. I'll be back to get him in three days. Merry Christmas, Seeley." she said before turning to leave.

"Merry Christmas." he closed the door behind his ex-lover just as Parker came barreling out of his room again.

"Daddy, look at what I drew for Dr. Bones!" he waved around a piece of paper.

Booth suddenly thought about Brennan and her limited experience with children. He wondered if being around Parker would set her ill at ease. He looked at the picture that Parker was flapping around, and saw that it was a skeleton.

"That's really nice, Bud. I think she'll love it." he reassured his son.

Parker smiled and ran off to another room. This gave Booth the time to sigh and scrub his face with his hands.

This was going to be an interesting holiday.

_-So I know that Brennan gave into that a little too easily for her character, but you know me, I don't like conflict, which is almost impossible to avoid while writing about Booth and Brennan. Next chapter will be a long one, filled with car rides, fun in the snow, and (if I get enough reviews on this) Brennan just might do something completely out of character. Dun-dun-dun... But seriously, a review would be delightful!_


	2. Christmas Eve Eve

_So I decided to write a chapter following each day that happens in the house. As I warned, it is insanely long chapter, but if you bear with me, I think that you'll really like it._

**Chapter Two: Christmas Eve Eve**

Brennan was shocked at how well she got moving at such an early hour. It was only five-thirty and she'd already managed to get showered, dried, and dressed for the day. She chugged down her coffee as she was making the final preparations. She made sure nothing in the fridge was going to go bad while she was gone, her locks were secure, and pleasantly asked her neighbor to scare off the creepy guy that came to her door trying to get her to convert to a cult. Everything was almost in place as her doorbell rang.

_They're early._ she thought as she picked up pace to meet her visitors. She opened the door to find an apologetic looking Booth and the feeling of two small arms wrap around her legs.

"Dr. Bones!" Parker buried his face in her black, knitted sweater.

"Sorry we're here early, Bones, but he really wanted to see you and he woke me up and started bouncing up and down and…" Booth trailed off trying to explain their unexpected appearance.

"It's no trouble, Booth. I was just getting the last of my things together and then we can go." she said rationally as she patted Parker on the head as he continued to hold onto her.

"Parker, you can let go of her now." Booth bent down and detached his son from his partner's side.

Parker looked up at the woman he so admired with wide eyes. "Is it true, Dr. Bones? Are you really coming with us?" he asked as she shut the door behind them.

"Yeah, Parker, I am." Brennan said with a sigh. A warm feeling flooded her as she saw the boy's ecstatic face. She couldn't explain it, more or less didn't want to, and just enjoy the fact that somebody wanted her to be a part of something.

She drained the rest of her coffee and brushed her teeth while the men explored her apartment. Parker carefully touched many obvious breakables while his father continued to swat his hand away from especially fragile-looking objects. Brennan merely rolled her eyes and went over her mental checklist one more time.

Parker walked into her bedroom and flopped down on the bed in a melodramatic collapse. "Why do you have so many things that can't be touched?" he asked.

Brennan chuckled as she folded up a sweater. "Those things that can't be touched, they're pretty neat looking, aren't they?"

"Yeah."

"That's why." she poked him. Parker giggled as he sat up straight. Booth came in just in time to watch the adorable scene play out between his friend and his son.

Booth was surprised. For some reason, she was acting…well…normal. She was talking and acting like she wasn't a woman with an IQ of probably 200, but almost motherly. It set Booth's mind a little more at ease to know that Bones could be around Parker without feeling completely out of place. She acted like his friend.

Being engulfed by his thoughts, Booth didn't notice anything after that until she was zipping up her overcoat and announcing she was ready. They turned everything off and locked up. As they walked down the hall towards the elevators, Parker looked back and said, "Bye, Dr. Bones apartment!" and waved.

Brennan and Booth, arms loaded down with her luggage, looked him and laughed. They made it out to the SUV and amazingly made everything fit in the trunk without obstructing the back window. Parker got himself strapped into the back seat while the adults took their respective sides of the vehicle.

It took about twenty minutes until Parker said, "I'm bored."

"How about we play Twenty Questions?" Booth asked excitedly.

"Yeah!" he replied.

"You want in, Bones?" Booth didn't get a response from his partner. "Bones?" he tried again. He adjusted himself and realized she'd fallen asleep. He smiled and motioned Parker to speak quietly by using the rearview mirror. The boy gave his father a thumb's up and they started the game.

About an hour had passed, and Booth and Parker had went from Twenty Questions to the license plate game. It wasn't until Booth accidentally hit a pothole on Brennan's side and cursed that she bolted upward, alert and awake. She rubbed at her eyes and checked her watch. "How long was I out?"

"About an hour, we've still got an hour to go." he said. Brennan cleared her eyes of gunk that might've accumulated during her impromptu nap. She looked out the window to find only white for about half a football field, then some pine trees on the horizon, then the skyline where the sun was just making its appearance for the day.

Her hand automatically went for the radio at the immediate silence following her wake. She looked up at Booth, "Do you mind if I…?"

"Not at all." he replied. Brennan smiled her thanks and skimmed through the channels, keeping an ear out for a decent song. Her finger left the seek button when she came across a country song that was obviously familiar to her. She began humming the lyrics.

Parker's head snapped to attention, "I know this song, Mommy sings it in the car a lot." He began singing the words in a high pitched, off key voice.

Brennan grinned at the boy's enthusiasm. She looked over at Booth, who looked like he was subconsciously saying _Thanks ever so much for that headache, Bones. _She smiled apologetically while the song ended. Brennan quickly changed the channel to an instrumental station.

"Claire de Lune." they both said simultaneously and chuckled at each other. Parker looked at them like the pair grew two more arms and were playing patty-cake. He shook his head, dismissing his thoughts, and sat quietly throughout the rest of the ride.

Booth pulled off the interstate about twenty minutes later. Brennan and Parker's eyes shot around, taking in the sights of the unfamiliar town. Booth explained that it would be another ten before they actually got to his parents house because they lived in the countryside. Brennan considered the fact that this would be a good thing for her. To be able to get away from the smoggy air of the city and to the clean, refreshing air of the country.

It wasn't until Booth pulled into a rocky driveway that the bumping movement of the car snapped Brennan out of her thoughts. The house was an idyllic "Country Living" magazine worthy home even in the bleakness of winter. It was a large, two-story stone house with beautifully laid brick-work in different tones of brown. A small front porch protected the intricate glass on the door from rain and debris.

_Oh, yes. _Brennan thought as she climbed out of the car, stretching her stiff muscles, _I could see Booth growing up here._

The partners opened the back hatch to start unloading luggage while Parker ran to the snow bank. Just when Booth had managed to load four suitcases, his and Parker's, in his arms, he felt the cold wet slush of a snowball connecting squarely with his face. He said nothing as he looked at his guilty son and continued on to his intended destination. Brennan laughed as he walked away, then turned to high-five Parker. She got her own bags and followed Booth's path with a snow-free face and Parker on her heels.

The foyer was just as, if not more, beautiful as the outside. Thick hardwood floors that were now littered with wet footprints. The room was open, blending from the living room on the left to the dining room on the right and the stairs that lay between them.

She'd removed her shoes as to avoid more watermarks on the floor and walked straight ahead towards what she assumed be the kitchen. There he was, her partner, the army-ranger sniper, getting his face wiped and being reprimanded by someone she guessed was his mother. She was a short, lean woman with her graying hair pulled into a bun and warm brown eyes that Brennan recognized as similar to those of Booth.

"Honestly, Seeley, you haven't changed a bit. You still can't go five minutes without getting something splayed across your face!" she said as she dabbed away the excess water.

"Grandma!" Parker confirmed Brennan's assumptions with this outburst as he bolted for her. She looked down to see the little boy bounding towards her and bent down to greet him with a hug. She looked up to see a pair of neon blue eyes watching the family moment.

"You must be Seeley's partner, Dr. Brennan." she smiled warmly and hugged Brennan.

"Please, call me Temperance." Brennan said, surprising herself when she didn't falter from the woman's embrace.

"Or you could do what I do and call her Dr. Bones." Parker suggested.

She laughed, "I think that Temperance is fine as long as you call me Amelia. So, you've been watching over my Seeley?" she asked.

Brennan sighed, "I guess you could say that. Have you ever seen him eat pie? It's like feeding time at the zoo." she whispered, watching Booth's worried eyes as his mother laughed.

"Dear, I could tell you stories without end about my little boy." she whispered back.

Booth obviously caught on to the word 'stories' by lightly pushing the two women apart. "There will be no exchange of stories of the past. I will not be the subject to the girlish ways of telling stories. Why wouldn't you tell some of your own, Bones?"

Brennan shrugged, "Because you say all of my stories are morbid and depressing." she stated.

"Yeah, and they're not about me." Booth cried animatedly.

Brennan rolled her eyes, "Make up your mind already."

Amelia and Parker laughed silently as only the latest observers to Brennan and Booth's reasonless bickering. She looked down at her grandson and mouthed, "Do they always do this?"

Parker shrugged innocently and mouthed, "It doesn't matter. They don't really mean it."

Booth took Brennan's coat and hung it in the closet by the front door. "Where's everybody else?" he asked as he stumbled out of his shoes.

"Jared and Christine got stuck in traffic and your father's out getting firewood. You're the first ones here." his mother called back from the kitchen.

"I like being here first." Parker hugged Brennan for the third time that day (the second time they were in the elevator at her apartment)

Brennan finally caved and picked the small boy up in her arms. He giggled as he was placed on her hip. "It's a good habit to have." she smiled.

Booth looked at his partner like she'd dyed her hair green. For the second time that day, and it wasn't even ten o'clock, Parker had a smile on his face because of his partner. He shook his head and followed them into the kitchen.

"So Temperance, why does Seeley say all of your stories are morbid and depressing." Amelia asked as she washed the breakfast dishes from earlier.

Brennan put Parker down and grabbed a dishtowel from the counter. "Oh, it's because most of them have to do with cadavers." she took a glass and began drying.

_Ah, there's Bones. I was wondering where she went._ Booth thought as he sat down at the kitchen table, watching the two women's backs quite literally.

"That's your job though, isn't it? Giving the dead who can't speak an identity so they can be respected and give the families peace of mind?" Amelia said over the course of washing three plates.

Brennan looked up, "Yes, that's correct. Booth just doesn't like some of the finer details."

"Yeah, because those 'finer details' usually involve murder, genocide, and violence." Booth chimed in while giving Parker a cookie from the jar next to him. He might've snuck one for himself too.

"Well that I could see." Amelia replied.

"I think it's cool!" Parker said with a mouthful of cookie, spewing half of it on the floor. The three adults laughed as the front door opened again.

"Hey Ma? Are you here?" a male voice asked.

"Yeah Jared, I'm coming." she dried her hands on the dishtowel Brennan held out for her. She smiled appreciatively and ran to see her other son. The other three followed to meet (for Brennan) and greet (for Booth and Parker) the new visitors.

"Hey, small fry, what happened to your hair?" Booth greeted his brother. Jared Booth was attractive in a sense with an apparently new buzz cut.

"Got rid of it Seeley, you've let yourself go." Jared walked up to his brother and punched his gut. The pair laughed and embraced in a guy hug. Brennan watched the encounter between relatives from a safe distance. Her anthropology instincts had kicked in; observing a culture or a scenario without making your presence known. Until, of course, Booth dragged her out from the entryway of the kitchen.

"Temperance Brennan, this is my brother Jared, his wife Christine, and their son Michael." Booth introduced them excitedly as she shook each of their hands. Michael, Brennan noticed, looked a lot like Parker as he poked the little boy in the shoulder.

"Michael, I know what you're thinking. Just do what me and Daddy do and call her Dr. Bones." Parker said.

"That's good, I can remember that." the little boy replied to his cousin.

Brennan internally laughed and thought for the first time about how weird her name really was. Now she had three people calling her 'Bones'. Booth apparently caught her wind of the gears turning inside her head and gave her a half-hearted encouraging hug.

"Well, why don't we get you all settled?" Amelia suggested as she eyed the mound of luggage that had accumulated in a pile near the front door.

It seemed like a good idea. It was even a better idea when Booth and Jared decided to show each other up at who could handle carrying the most bags up the stairs at one time. Brennan watched as Booth hauled up her three suitcases along with two of his and Parker's.

"Is this normal?" Christine asked as she watched her own husband try to body-slam Booth out of the way.

"Anthropology teaches us that two males will fight for dominance in various ways to prove that they are alpha-male or, in this case, who's better than the other," Brennan chuckled her explanation as the two stumbled up the staircase.

"Sounds like Jared." Christine nodded her head along with Brennan's assessment of the impromptu contest.

"Sounds like Booth, also." Brennan noted as the two of the tripped at the top of the stairs, falling at the top simultaneously.

"I'm sorry, what did you say you did for a living?" Christine looked at the other woman with inquisitive eyes.

"I didn't. I'm a forensic anthropologist. I study the bones of death victims to find out their life stories, basically." she grinned as Booth rose to his feet and announced that he was okay.

"That's interesting. I'm the Philly County pathologist." she replied.

"Ah, so you're a rational human being." she thought out-loud.

She smiled, "I like to think so."

After the Booth brothers' little competition was over, Brennan trotted up the stairs so Booth could show her where things were so she wouldn't be lost later. He pointed out that there were some rooms that didn't needed to be bothered, namely his father's office.

"What does he do for a living that requires an office?" Brennan asked.

"He owns a few family run businesses around here. Nothing huge, but it keeps them in fish and chips." Booth replied as he showed her the bathroom.

"I don't know what that means." she said.

"It's not important." he stated while he came to the last door on the left on the left half of the house. "This one's your room."

Brennan couldn't help but be a little surprised at how nice the guest room was. It had beige walls that glowed in the sunlight. The large bed matched the same tone as the walls that gave the room a warm feeling. She noticed that her bags were plopped right in the middle of the bed in a stack. Rolling her eyes, she walked over to properly organize her luggage.

Booth left her alone, telling her his room was the one directly across the hall in case she needed him for something. She shook her head as his back retreated into the other room. Brennan looked out the window that gave a nice view of the front lawn. She saw two little figures that were rolling around in the snow. She knew that Parker loved the snow just from the snowball he'd nailed his father with less than an hour ago. She laughed and thought back to her own childhood and her and Russ burying each other in the white, wet fluff for hours without end. She made a mental note to find a moment where she could call her estranged brother and wish him a merry Christmas. With two girls who were practically his step-daughters now, he probably had his hands full.

"Penny for your thoughts, Temperance?" Amelia lightly knocked on the door, arms full of clean linens and new blankets.

"I suppose. I was just watching Parker and Michael play out there. They're really nice kids." she said absent-mindedly.

"Parker is really fond of you, I can tell. When Seeley writes letters for him to me, they're always filled with things that 'Dr. Bones' taught him." she said truthfully. She had kept every single letter to prove it.

"Really? I-I'm not around Parker that much, I might see him once a week." Brennan said as she joined the elderly woman in dressing the bed.

"Sometimes, it only takes one encounter in a whole lifetime to change the course of someone's future." she stated. She tossed half the blanket Brennan's way, which she caught expertly.

"I don't think I want Parker to be like me. I'm emotionally distant and socially awkward." Brennan stated matter-of-factly.

Amelia looked up with obvious concern, "I don't think that you're that bad off."

"That's because we haven't talked about anything emotional or a confliction of views, so I haven't gone off on an anthropological tirade, which hasn't made you uncomfortable being around me." Brennan fluffed the pillows into place. "That's why last night I made a promise to myself to leave the doctor locked up in the back of my mind as often as possible."

Amelia smiled, "You're a woman with a big heart, Temperance. Just what Seeley needs in his life."

Brennan shot her a confused look, "Amelia, Booth and I aren't dating, if that's what you mean."

"No, I just meant that you're someone who plays a key role in his life. What made you think that I implied that you two were dating?" she asked.

Brennan laughed slightly, "It's become a theme that people make the snap-decision that we're in a romantic relationship."

"I could see why, the two of you are cute together. Bicker and fight like a real couple too."

Brennan groaned, "I hate psychology. I don't understand why people automatically assume that Booth and I have something more than a partnership and a friendship."

Amelia grinned. "I don't know, hon. I don't know."

Brennan felt tension rise up into her shoulders at being called _hon, _but also felt some bizarre feeling spread over her. Parker came bounding into the room, his snow clothes sopping wet, leaving puddles in his wake.

"Dr. Bones, you wanna come outside and help us build a snowman?! Daddy already said he'd help, but he needs another person to help." he asked in that innocent tone that made Brennan's heart melt.

She looked down at the half-made bed. Amelia must've followed her gaze. "Don't worry about this, I'll finish it, just get that wet little boy off my hardwood floors." she said in a sweet and unsettling voice.

Brennan nodded and skipped out with Parker following closely. She pulled on her coat, boots, hat, gloves. and scarf while the boy begged her to hurry. She allowed herself the thought that today's people, especially children, thought way too much about instant gratification and that they could hardly wait for anything. That was the first anthropological thought that she'd had that day besides the Great Stair Race that had happened earlier that day.

The next four hours were spent trying to build up the snowman from the white fluff that laid two and a half feet thick on the ground. Once they'd laid the second rounded lump on top of the first, Booth ran into the house to find some charcoal and a carrot, leaving Brennan, Parker, and Michael to complete the last orb. When they rolled a decent-sized ball for the head, they rolled it in front of the other two.

"Now," Brennan sighed and brushed off her gloved hands on her insulated jacket, "how do we get it up onto that?" she asked to the two small boys.

"I don't know, what do you think Parker?" Michael turned to his blond-haired playmate.

Parker stuck out his bottom lip in consideration for a moment, then ran around to the other side of the house. She thought about running after him when Parker came back with a very long piece of lumber.

"We can push it up to the top using this, slide it on up there." he leaned the wood against the sturdy two circles that were already stacked. Brennan gave him an encouraging rub on the head. They rolled the white ball to the base of the board and pushed it up to the top right when two men appeared on the other side, scaring Brennan to almost drop the lump of snow they'd been calling a head.

Booth laughed at his partner's startled expression. "Temperance Brennan, this is my father, James Booth." he made his last introduction for the day. They shook hands and pleasant hi's while the miniature Booths held up the snowman head. They finished it up together and continued on into what Booth called "the snowball fight of the century". It was Booth and Parker versus Brennan and Michael. Because it had such a melodramatic title, each time Brennan got hit, she fell down in the snow face first.

She regretted it a couple hours later when she was wrapped in two blankets and still not warming up much. Everyone had gathered into the living room and started a fire after dinner. Jared and Christine were now toasting marshmallows for s'mores. Booth had returned to her side with a cup of hot chocolate and an amused grin.

"Y-you can s-s-st-stop laughing an-an-anytime now." she said through chattering teeth.

He sobered, "You're right, I'm sorry Bones. Come here." he opened his arms, waiting for her to lean into his offered hug.

Brennan weighed the pros and cons, but the overwhelming need for warmth took over her mind. She sipped quietly on her hot drink and rested her head against Booth's shoulder. They didn't realize that knowing looks were passed around the room between the other adults. The kids didn't notice the interactions, too excited about they're s'mores.

"Y-you know, I-I think I'm just gonna t-t-turn in for the night." Brennan stood up and headed for the stairs.

"Wait!" Parker forgot all about the s'more and ran to catch up with Brennan. She kneeled down by the time he'd gotten there and he hugged her neck tight. "Sweet dreams, Dr. Bones." he whispered.

Brennan almost felt tears stinging her eyes as she repeated the innocent phrase back to him before ascending the stairs.

Booth couldn't help but be amazed at Brennan's sudden adaptation into a 'normal' personality. His son was rivaling that shock with his own personal attachment to Brennan. Parker never trusted anyone in such short a time frame as he did Bones. Truly unexpected.

What was even more unexpected is what came out of his mother's mouth, "She's perfect. Seeley. I completely approve of her."

He gave her a confused expression, "What do you mean, Mom? You make it sound like we were dating."

Amelia gave a slight shrug of her shoulders and stared into her teacup. "I was thinking that earlier she was just uncomfortable talking to me about your relationship. She was really defensive, saying that you were just friends and partners."

"We are just friends and partners. What made you think that we were anything more?"

Her eyes grew wide, "Well, I just thought because that you brought her home to meet your parents that she meant something a little more to you. I'm sorry if I was being nosy, sweetheart."

Booth nodded, then smiled at his mother to let her know he was fine with her assumptions. More often than not lately, he himself was wondering about the assumption that everybody seemed to make about them had any credence. He knew that his partner was a strong, independent woman who didn't seem to need a man to make her feel good about herself. He didn't understand if that was good or bad. Hell, he didn't know what anything that concerned her meant anymore.

He stayed up for a little while longer before hauling his son off to the bed they were sharing. He peeked into her room to find that Brennan was snuggled in and sleeping peacefully. He helped Parker into his side of the bed before rounding it and crawling in his own side.

"Daddy, do you like Dr. Bones?" his son whispered in the darkness of the room.

"Of course I like Dr. Bones, she's one of my best friends, bud." the elder Booth whispered back.

"No, I mean do you _like_ like her?" Parker enunciated.

Booth took a minute to think about how he should respond to his child. He really didn't want to ignore the question, nor did he want to give a long, hushed speech about the dynamics of friendship and what he felt for Brennan. In the end, a simple answer sufficed.

"Yeah, buddy, I think I do." he said.

Booth rolled over when Parker didn't reply to find that he'd drifted off to sleep.

_Was that cute or what?! I honestly don't like half of what I write, but that last part, in my opinion, was pretty cute. Planning even more fluff for next chapter, but if you wanna see it, you gotta click that button and review!!! :)_


	3. Christmas Eve Part One

**_Okay, I decided to split this day up into two chapters (you'll see why in a little while). I'm really sorry about being so late in this update, but this was really difficult to write for some reason._**

**_IMPORTANT NOTE: Assume "Fire and Ice" skating events never happened._**

**Chapter Three: Christmas Eve (Part One)**

Brennan hardly felt the bouncing of the mattress as someone bounded up onto it. Two small hands began shaking her lightly out of a pleasant dream of Christmas past from her childhood. She rolled to move away from whoever was disturbing her, only to fall out, her shoulder connecting solidly with the cold wooden floor.

Parker looked down from the edge of the bed where the anthropologist had taken a tumble. Brennan took most of the blankets with her in the fall, so all he saw was a groaning, moving lump of white. "Dr. Bones? Are you awake?" he asked.

Brennan groaned again and sat up, the blankets covering her head so she looked like a bad sheet-ghost at Halloween. "If I were asleep, I'd still be in that bed." her voice muffled to Parker's ears. "What time is it?"

He looked over at the clock next to the bed, "The big hand is pointing to the two and the little hand is pointing at the four." he replied.

It took a moment for Brennan to clear her fogged mind to decrypt what he'd said. _Ten after four? What unworldly reason got him up so early?_ she thought. "Parker, why are you up so early?"

"Because I couldn't sleep. Daddy was still asleep and I couldn't fall asleep again because Daddy snores so loud. Are you mad at me?" he asked with sad eyes.

She couldn't help but smile at the boy's innocence. Brennan didn't think there was a time in her life when she was as innocent as him. "Nah, that's okay. I can sleep when I'm dead."

"Yay." he said as he tackled the still blanket-covered Brennan in a big bear hug that toppled her over. She struggled to free herself so she could breathe.

"Hang on there, I need coffee before anything in the morning." she told him lightly.

Parker looked up from where his head had been buried in fluffy blankets. "Oh, you're just like Daddy. He says he needs that black stuff early in the morning, too. It doesn't even taste good." Parker while sticking out his tongue and pointing at it.

Brennan chuckled slightly, "Maybe that's why we like it, it tastes so bad we get moving to try to get away from it. You might even like it when you get older." she disentangled herself from the sheet and stood up.

"Don't see it happening, Dr. Bones." he replied cheerily.

She smiled and peeked her head down the hallway. As far as she could tell, there still wasn't a soul up except for the hyper boy and the anthropologist. She made a gesture for Parker to be careful and quite. He replied with a thumbs-up and a smile. Together, they tip-toed down the hall to the stairs. Brennan continued to quietly pad her way down the stairs when she looked down at Parker, who'd sat down at the top and thumped his way down on his backside.

"Why are you doing that?" she whispered.

"It's what I always do when I have to be quiet at Mom's house." he replied as he kept going. She just stood and watched him bump down the rest of the flight on his bum. She laughed internally when he stood up at the bottom of the stairs and stumbled a bit when he walked.

Parker fell face first onto the couch while Brennan went into the kitchen in search of caffeine. She was scooping the coffee into the filter when he came to the room, He looked at her quizzically. "How does it come out black if that stuff is brown?"

She considered telling him, but feared that it would come out in a long scientific speech. Instead, Dr. Temperance Brennan dismissed the boy's inquiries with three simple words that she hadn't used in a long time. "I don't know, Parker."

He did exactly as was expected, shrug his shoulders and walked to the refrigerator. Brennan breathed a sigh of relief when she thought about the explanation she had saved his ears from. _Good job, Tempe, just talk like a casual, non-scientific person and maybe you won't look like a freak for the next two days._ she reminded herself with the little internal pep-talk.

When the coffee was done, she went back out into the living room where the small child was stretched out on the big couch watching an animated yellow mouse-type animal shoot electrical currents through the red dots on it's cheeks.

"What is that?" Brennan looked at the small cactus figure the electricity hit. She jumped slightly when it moved.

"It's _Pokemon_, Dr. Bones. Have you ever watched it?" Parker lifted his head to look at her with shock written deep in his eyes.

"No, I don't watch a lot of television." she replied cautiously.

Parker went into total detail of the show, along with the trading cards, video games, and other miscellaneous stuff that went along with it. Apparently the show had been running for years. Brennan watched it with the boy explaining every little detail along the way, depicting out all of the problems and inconsistencies from it. But she held her tongue and nodded along while trying to understand it. He then began channel-surfing so fast that she could hardly see what it was before he was on to the next one. He finally rested on a channel that showed a town being blown up by bombs and snaggle-toothed ruffians.

"What is this supposed to be?" she muttered to herself.

Parker picked up on the small sound. "It's _Pirates of the Caribbean_. You can't say you haven't seen it." he smiled that charm smile that appeared to be genetic in the Booth family.

Brennan looked over at him, "Like I said, I don't watch much TV at all." She watched as a young man threw an axe in the back of one of the intruders.

His jaw hit the floor. He apparently couldn't believe that the anthropologist hadn't seen the only PG-13 movie his father had allowed him to watch one night after they'd had enough sugar and built up energy in their system to power a small city. He remembered how he begged Booth to let him see it after he saw the commercial, promising to never use his shaving cream to look like Santa then dropping the can in the toilet ever again. This made his father think and then say okay only if he didn't tell his mother.

Parker got up from the couch and over to a basket behind the armchair. He returned with a very large, very soft plaid blanket. Wrapping it around the doctor, he said, "Get comfy, you've gotta watch this."

Brennan felt an odd sensation as Parker climbed into her lap, mindful of her coffee mug, and snuggled up to her chest. Her heart beat had increased along with pulse. She felt warm despite the fact that she was literally freezing. He had warmed her up with the small gesture of the blanket and his own body heat. It wasn't something that she could explain scientifically, but she attributed the rush of euphoria to a trigger that meant she was deeply fond of him.

Parker brought her up to speed on what had happened so far in the film. About halfway through, Brennan told him a little bit about the Barbary Pirates which had obviously inspired the movie. He was thrilled at the history lesson from her and she felt good giving it. She actually ended up liking the story it told.

Towards the end of it, when Jack Sparrow was about to be hung by the Brits, Booth had thunked down the stairs while holding his head. She could tell that he was dizzy and hadn't gained full use of stamina yet as he leaned against the wall for support.

"Hi Dad." Parker whispered.

"Morning, buddy." Booth mumbled as he went to the kitchen. He hadn't even opened his eyes to look at his son, but wandered into the kitchen to make coffee. Seeing it was already made, he thought that it was on one of those timers so it would go off automatically. Booth poured himself a cup and took a long drink before he cleared his head and walked back out to join his son at whatever he was doing.

He walked back into the living room to find Parker sitting on his partner's lap as they watched Will Turner save Jack Sparrow from being hung. His head rested on Brennan's shoulder as she bit slightly on one of her short nails. There was a sight that Booth never thought that he'd see; Bones actually watching something related to modern media. He chuckled to himself and took a seat next to her.

"How do you like it?" he whispered.

"It's fascinating how they can take a part of history and mold it into a modernized storyline that shows how dangerous pirates could be. It's entertaining." she said unconsciously, eyes still glued to the scene on the box.

Booth thought about what else she would find entertaining. His thoughts drifted to the fact that one night he'd invite her over to his place for Thai food and scary movies. He wondered if she would scare easily. He'd have to do a little digging through his DVD collection at home, but he distinctly remembered having copies of _The Shining_ and _Vacancy_. With the real life terror that she'd seen all her life, he wondered if it would even faze her.

The movie ended and Parker mumbled that he had to go to the bathroom. Brennan laughed while Booth told him to go and that they didn't need to know that. He laughed slightly too as he watched his son scamper to the other end of the house. He turned and met his partner's eyes, still light from her giggles. Blue held brown for another few seconds before she spoke.

"So, what are your plans for today?" Brennan asked while pulling the blanket around herself, suddenly feeling colder.

"I was thinking about taking Parker and Michael to the ice rink. You wanna come with?" he asked while stretching his arms over his head. Brennan couldn't help but think about how defined and muscular they were.

"Sure, that would be fun." she replied.

Later on when she was getting cleaned up for the day, she wondered what had possessed her to take up Booth's offer to go ice skating. She hadn't gone since she was nine and even then she wasn't any good at it. As Brennan combed through her wet hair, she considered saving herself some embarrassment and tell Booth that she'd rather stay at the house.

She walked out of the guest bathroom and into the bedroom where she saw a lump moving underneath her already made up sheets. Deciding not to bother whoever had snuck into the bed, she walked past it and into her suitcase to get clothes for the day. Brennan pulled the robe tighter around her knowing that it was a little one in there. She was going to walk back to the bathroom to change when a head popped out at the foot of the bed.

"Hey, Dr. Bones!" Parker whispered excitedly, "my Dad said that you were coming skating with us. I can't wait to go!" he said before rushing down the hallway. Brennan heard a pair of screams that she suspected came from the two cousins playing a game of what she remembered was called 'Hide and Seek'.

After that quick little encounter with Parker, all thoughts of trying to get out of skating had left her mind. She'd dressed in a white t-shirt with a maroon sweater that tied around the waist and jeans. Brennan still felt a slight chill from laying in the snow yesterday.

At about nine thirty, she heard Booth calling her from the foot of the stairs. She grumbled as she pulled her hair back into a ponytail. _As soon as that man has an idea in his head, he goes from standing still to light-speed in about one-point-five seconds._ she thought a little bitterly as she hobbled to pull her boots on and hop down the stairs.

Booth had the nerve to laugh at her instability. If he thought that was entertaining, he probably couldn't wait to get her on the ice. "You ready, Bones?" he asked.

"Where's everybody else?" she asked.

He thought for a second, "Well, Jared went out with Dad to get the Christmas tree and Christine and Mom went into town for stuff for dinner later, so we are on the child entertainment and lunch committee." he established while Brennan pulled her coat on.

"Come on, Dad!" Parker called from halfway to the SUV. The duo picked up the pace and trotted to the vehicle.

The car ride to the rink was spent by listening to the three men sing "99 Bottles Of Milk On The Wall". Brennan smiled when she saw the jovial look on Booth's face and started humming to their song too quietly to be noticed.

When they arrived at the rink, Parker and Michael were practically bouncing out of their seats. The two boys danced as they waited for Booth to pull out the skates and passed them off for Brennan to carry. She gave him a dirty look as she hauled the bags up over her shoulders.

The rink was dead empty, not a soul to be seen as the Booths took seats on the bleachers. Taking one of the bags from his partner, Booth got the two cousins laced up and sent them out on the ice. He began lacing up his own hockey skates while Brennan watched the boys chase each other with obvious experience.

It wasn't until Booth moved in front of her that she realized that the same thing was expected of her.

"Booth, if you haven't come to the conclusion yet, I don't have skates." she practically smiled.

He returned the sly look, "You're in luck, Bones. I checked with Christine and you two have the same size feet. When I told her, she was all too happy to lend me hers."

Brennan gritted her teeth behind closed lips, but the motion was still visible. Booth's expression turned into a full-fledged grin as he kneeled down in front of her and began removing her boots. He got one skate laced before he looked up at her, arms crossed and looking more like a defiant child than a full-grown woman. Ignoring her, Booth laced up the second skate just a little tighter than would be considered losing circulation. She'd feel it in a couple of hours when there wasn't a whole ton of blood running to her feet.

"Come on, Bones!" He roughly encouraged the good doctor while she clung to the boards for support. "It's not so hard once you get a feel for it."

"Yes, and you already have the feel." Brennan yelled. He was in the middle of the ice, a territory she didn't want to venture to. Out in the middle, there was only one way to go if you messed up. That way was to the cold, frozen block beneath her unsteady feet. _No way am I going to leave this nice solid board right here._ she thought.

Booth had skated over to her while she had these thoughts. He held his bare hand out to her with the vocalized promise, "I won't let you fall."

She looked down in slight embarrassment, heaved a sigh, and took it. "I trust you."

He smiled as he guided her around the loop a couple of times while expertly dodging his wild son and even wilder nephew. They were seeing who could go the fastest, slide across the ice, and slam into the boards at the opposite end of the rink. Brennan cringed when she heard the smack of body against wood from the other end.

"I thought you had a strong stomach for stuff like that." Booth hobbled along with his partner, still on shaky feet.

"I see bodies after they're dead, Booth, it doesn't mean I have a strong intake to damage being done to a human being." Brennan concentrated as hard as she could to remain upright with as little of Booth's help as possible. "I'm not completely cold. I know that you know that."

His voice darkened. "Of course I know that, Bones. I've known that since you told me about your childhood." he thought about her as a child. Brennan, alone and awkward, in the foster system, without having anyone to call as a friend and her throwing herself into her studies.

Booth shook the thoughts from his head as quickly as they had entered. This weekend he had with his family and his best friend wouldn't be tainted by the memories of the wretched past that she'd had. Still, he wondered what would've happened to her had her family been wholesome, together, and…well…not bank robbers and murderers.

The revere was shaken just in time to see his son coming at them at moderate speed. It wasn't so fast that he couldn't have stopped it, but it was fast enough to knock an unskilled, unsuspecting Brennan from her wobbly stance.

He let go of her for all of five seconds while he redirected his son away from her. It seemed five seconds was all it took for Brennan to find herself grumbling in pain on the ice. Booth muttered as he picked her up and tormented her around the giant loop for the next two hours. She didn't fall again.

"Dad, me and Michael are hungry." Parker said while the two of them simultaneously rubbed their stomachs to prove their point.

Booth paused for a second in thought before he turned to Brennan to whisper in her ear. "Do you mind going along to a cheap, kid-friendly, fast-food joint?" he asked, hiding the question behind her head.

She shrugged. "I'm not picky. I've eaten at that diner with you enough."

He smiled at her and told the boys they were going out to eat. After the quick cheer that followed, Booth told them to hop up on the bleachers so he could get them out of their skates. He was too busy taking off the boys skates to realize that Brennan had managed to take off the blades strapped to her feet without help.

_Well, at least one of the kids can get their skates off_, Booth thought. He threw a rag at her face and told her to make sure they were dry before putting them back in the bag. She felt like a child at being told what to do and how to do it, but for once, Brennan kept her mouth shut and did as was asked of her. She was proud of herself that she only fell once. That was a much smaller number than she'd expected, (she thought she'd be lucky if she didn't break into four digits).

Booth put the skates back in the appropriate bags and carried them out himself. She thought she'd get stuck lugging them out, but he didn't give the slightest indication he wanted help with anything. All Brennan had to do was seat herself in the passenger seat and try unsuccessfully to ease the blood below her ankles again.

"Alright," Booth said as he pulled himself into the driver's seat. "who wants McDonald's?"

Cheers of agreement came from the backseat as the car began rolling into motion. Brennan began to aimlessly flip through radio channels until she heard something semi-familiar. She looked at Booth, who bore the same expression and went backwards through the stations. When she found the right one again, the two of them burst out into uncontrollable fits of laughter.

"What's so funny, Daddy?" Parker asked his father. Brennan only laughed harder as Booth sobered enough to focus and answer his son's question.

"This song, Parker, is called 'Hot Blooded'. Bones and I danced to this song at her apartment a little less than a year after we became friends." Booth tried to explain. Brennan got a grip on her laughter.

"Let's just say that I didn't know that your father was so rhythmically inclined, Parker." she said once her giggles subsided.

"I wanna see that!" Parker jumped up and down in his seat.

"Me too." Michael said.

"Well, maybe someday we'll give a repeat performance." Booth replied.

"_Someday_?" Brennan asked.

"Never say never, Bones." he said as he pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant with a clown-inspired theme.

There wasn't a huge crowd to get into McDonald's, but there was still a wait. Booth set the boys to work getting ketchup cups, napkins, and their own sodas. He then thought that might've been a bad idea with two sugar-obsessed boys, but Brennan kept an eye on them in case they made a mess. There was one of the plus sides to being an anthropologist, she had the most observant eye Booth had ever seen.

He managed to get the food to the table without the boys jumping on him without looking like cats going after a mouse. She laughed at his look of triumph over the four year olds as he handed her a cup of coffee. Booth felt more victorious in the last day and a half then he had in the rest of his life. He'd gotten Brennan to smile almost ten times in less than thirty-six hours. That, in itself, was a miracle.

Parker and Michael scarfed down their food like starved lumberjacks while the chaperones sipped on hot coffee. The boys wanted to go play on the equipment. Booth granted their request, but said they couldn't stay long. They ran off to their own devices.

Booth hung his arm off the back of Brennan's chair and sighed. "Makes you really think, doesn't it?"

She sighed, he was the one person who could read her like an opened book. "Parker's really a great kid. You have a really nice family, Booth."

"Thanks, Bones. I like to think so, too."

Brennan nodded absentmindedly. Her thoughts were obviously elsewhere. Booth considered the fact that there was only a number of places that those thoughts could drift to at a time like this.

"You wonder what would've happened if you'd had a regular, everyday family, don't you?" he asked directly.

Her head shot to attention. "There isn't a way to change the past."

"Yeah, but doesn't the thought ever float through that elephant-sized brain of yours?"

She picked at a nail as she thought about her answer. "It used to. I thought about what might've happened if Russ hadn't left or if my parents weren't criminals. Then I think about who I'd be if they stayed, maybe I'd be in-tune socially." she watched Parker crawl out the bottom of the slide.

Booth picked up on her minute trace of despair in her voice. He rubbed her shoulder soothingly, trying to quell the tension he felt built up there. He wished that he could take away the pain he saw in her eyes when she thought about her childhood. There were only a handful of times when Booth had felt completely helpless. Some were when his comrades were killed in battle, but the others were when Brennan was hurt.

"Hey," he whispered, "I think that you turned out just fine."

She laughed, "Coming from you, it doesn't mean a whole ton."

"Bones, I've always admired you. You have a gift with the whole science thing. You're a little different from everyone else, but that's good. People would give up any number of their social skills to have your brains." Booth reassured her.

Brennan sat there in a partial state of shock. She was certain that Booth thought she was a complete…Angela told her the phrase was 'freak-show'. He always seemed to enjoy poking fun at her less than adequate ways of communicating with other people. Now, here he was, trying to make her feel better about her abnormalities.

She smiled, "Thanks, Booth." she patted the hand that rubbed her shoulder.

"That wasn't what I thought you were thinking about, though." he said slyly after a minute.

"What did you think I was thinking about?" she asked.

Booth grinned before he replied, "Children."

Brennan's mouth opened, as if she were go to speak, then closed it again as she put his intention together. "Like I said, Parker's a really great kid, but I don't think that I'm going to have any children of my own."

His smile only grew wider, "You know what I say, Bones, never say never. Come on, guys. We gotta go." he called to the boys.

They audibly showed their disagreement, but reluctantly returned to the table Booth and Brennan were chatting at to retrieve their jackets. Parker asked them what they had been talking about. Booth replied by saying it was just "boring adult stuff". He seemed to accept the answer and let it drop.

The ride back to the house was filled with the sounds of Parker and Michael playing with their Happy Meal toys. Brennan felt like continuing the deep sleep she was woken from that morning. Booth seemed to pick up on her 'too relaxed' state and turned up the volume on the radio. She knew he was being kind and she tried hard to stay awake. Brennan already had the feeling that his mother didn't believe that the two of them weren't completely platonic friends. She realized that Booth having to carry her unconsciously sleeping body across the entryway wouldn't really set the feeling at ease.

They pulled up in front of the house at about one o'clock. The boys ran into the snow-banks, shouting that they were going to stay outside for a little longer. The pair looked at each other, shrugged, and headed in for the house.

"Hey, Ma! We're home!" Booth shouted as he and Brennan shook out of their coats.

What happened next could only be described as weird. Amelia, James, Jared, and Christine were all standing in a row watching the duo's entrance from a distance with giant smiles on their faces. Booth tried to move past the entryway, but was halted by his mother shaking her finger at him.

"What's up? What gives?" he asked the grinning idiots he was forced to call family.

"'What gives?' Look up, Sherlock." Jared taunted.

Brennan and Booth looked up together, each wearing similar expressions of fear.

"Uh oh." her head slowly made it's way to level and looked squarely at Booth.

"Mistletoe." he replied.

***

**_Dun, dun, dun...the plot thickens. This is also assuming that "Santa in the Slush" never happened either. I change a lot of crap once I get going. Next chapter will go a lot faster, I promise it will be up in less than a week. But, to get it up that fast, I'm going to need a little incentive. _**

**_Please, I'm begging you, click that green button and review?_**


	4. Christmas Eve Part Two

_AN: Hope I made all the suggestions from my suggestors happy in some twisted way. Here's what we've all been waiting for: the kiss scene. This chapter is really short, but I promise I'll make up for it come chapter five. _

**Chapter Four: Christmas Eve (Part Two)**

*** * ***

_Brennan and Booth looked up together, each wearing similar expressions of fear._

"_Uh oh." her head slowly made it's way to level and looked squarely at Booth._

"_Mistletoe." he replied. _

_* * *_

"Come on, Seeley. Plant one on her!" Jared encouraged from a non-deadly distance.

Booth gave his brother a vicious look, blatantly showing how much the chant had helped. Brennan stared at her socks that were now wet from stepping in the puddles their boots had created. Both of them were a flushed red and incoherently stammering.

They seemed to have the same idea simultaneously and they kissed each other on the cheek.

"Oh, come on! What was that?!" he complained.

"You're not making this any easier, you jerk!" Booth countered.

"Booth," Brennan finally spoke up, her usually pale face redder than a tomato. "just…get it over with." Her voice was cracking either under the weight of either embarrassment or nerves. He couldn't tell which.

Booth stared her squarely in the eye, trying to convey his thoughts to her. She gave him a look that said she understood what he was trying to get across. This obviously wasn't the way he wanted to do this. He'd been thinking about the mere possibility of it since he'd rescued her from that pack of cannibalistic dogs. Now, it burned his brain to think about in her presence. It was as though she might have some sort of mind-reading ability and use it to find out and kick his ass for it.

He looked at their grinning, moronic spectators before he looked Brennan in the eye. It didn't appear to bother her that his family was standing there, waiting for the union of lips. Unknown to him, she'd been thinking the same thoughts for a long time, too. Brennan could recall numerous times where she thought that he was literally _this close_ to kissing her, all of which went denied. She remembered dreaming about the moment where he would finally cross that stupid line of his. However, Brennan was far too rational to think anything of these instances and brushed them of to say that it had been her "biological urges". She was bound to have a few seeing as she hadn't been with anyone since Sully.

They were still standing there, just staring at one another. The annoying grins from the audience grew into looks of encouragement, then to a face that said 'hurry up'. Parker and Michael had come in behind the two of them and began removing their wet winter clothes.

"What's going on?" the small voice asked.

Amelia replied, "We're waiting for your father and Dr. Brennan to kiss."

Parker got a smile on his face. "Oh, that's easy. All you gotta do is this…" the boy walked in behind his father and gave him a good, unsettling shove to his father's backside. It wasn't enough to topple Booth over, but it was enough to push him into Brennan's lips.

It was slow and passionate, the way it should have been in both minds. The only thing complain-worthy was that it was over way too fast. Barely ten seconds after it started, it was already over. Their audience applauded even as Booth lifted his lips from hers.

Brennan's cell phone rang, Booth's dad needed help hauling the tree in off the truck. There wasn't time to talk about the events of those few minutes. It would have to be put off for a until later.

* * * *

The day went on as if nothing had happened between Booth and Brennan. They acted nonchalant and normal (well, as normal as these two got), all the while both couldn't stop their thoughts from floating back to that serendipitous kiss. The tree was decorated, the stockings were hung, and the holiday food was eaten. No one else gave it a second thought, brushing it off as an embarrassing blip in their lives. It was no little spot to them.

Later that night, everyone was gathered around the living room watching _How the Grinch Stole Christmas_. Brennan knew it was a movie for the kids, but found herself looking up from the book she'd been reading several times, only to ultimately put it aside. She remembered it was the book that her father had read to her every Christmas Eve until she was fourteen. He probably would've when she was fifteen if he and her mother hadn't left.

Almost as if Booth had read her mind, he wrapped an arm around her and gave her shoulder a friendly squeeze. She looked up at the charm smile that was radiating on his face. Brennan didn't stop the grin that came to her own lips. _At least I'm with living people this year, and not some Argentinean mass-gravesite._ She thought it was a refreshing change.

Bedtime apparently came too soon for the miniature Booth boys as they begged not to go to bed.

"Daddy, please! Can't we stayup just a little longer?" they pleaded with the respective adult figures.

"You guys want Santa to come, don't you?" Jared asked them both.

They nodded together.

"Then you're going to have to go to sleep. Santa won't come if you munchkins are still awake." Christine replied.

The boys looked at each other and figured just as much. Michael obediently followed his father up the stairs while Parker came and buried his head in Brennan's shoulder. Booth laughed.

"You know, you're gonna have to go to bed at some point if you want Santa to come, buddy." he reasoned.

"I know, Dad. I was just wondering if Dr. Bones could tuck me in?" Parker asked with wide, Bambi eyes.

Booth looked at Brennan, who didn't seem bothered or skittish to the idea of putting his son to bed. "That's up to Bones." he replied though. His partner had been doing wonderfully at acting normal, but he still didn't want to put her in an awkward position that she might not want.

Brennan looked down at his pleading eyes. "Sure, let's go."

Parker grinned and dragged her by the hand up the stairs. She knew that he was anxious to go to bed so "Santa" would come, but still thought that it was strange that he wanted to stay up just two minutes ago. _That's how children are, Tempe. Don't question it, it's all about instant gratification in the end, _the voice in her head told her to clam up.

He crawled up onto the bed by himself while she pulled back the covers. Her maternal instincts, if she believed she had any, kicked in when she tucked the covers around the squirming boy.

"Dr. Bones?" Parker half-whispered and half-whined.

"Yeah, Park?" she met his eyes while she sat on the bed next to him.

"Do you like Daddy?" he asked.

Brennan chuckled slightly at the innocent question, "Yeah, Parker. I wouldn't be friends with him if I didn't like him."

"No, not like that. I mean, do you _like_ like him?" he emphasized.

She opened her mouth as if she were going to ask him something, then closed it and thought about what he meant by that. Parker had obviously meant something stronger than friendship. It wasn't a question that Brennan took lightly and often denied the real answer to. However, in the presence of the famous Booth charm smile and genetic brown eyes, she felt a odd sense of honesty wash over her when she spoke.

"Yes, I do." she kindly left out the scientific speech about endorphins and biological urges.

"Why don't you guys act like you do?" he pulled the blanket up.

Brennan was stumped. "I-I don't understand what you mean."

Parker groaned, "Okay; he likes you, you like him. Why don't you guys act like you like each other like that?"

She didn't know that the word 'like' could be used so much in two sentences. "Do you mean why don't we act all…" she didn't quite know how to put it. "lovey dovey?" she'd heard Angela use the phrase before. It seemed appropriate.

"Yeah, like that." he confirmed.

"Parker," Brennan couldn't wrap her large brain around what the four-year-old was trying to horse-shoe her with. She decided to go with denial again. "Your dad doesn't think of me as more than a friend. Does that make sense?" she squinted (ha).

"No. He likes you. He told me so." Parker said definitively.

She sighed. When did all of this suddenly come out of the blue? Booth had never made the slightest indication that he thought more of her than a friend and partner. _Well, _Brennan thought, _there_ _was the time he saved you from man-eating dogs…and that time in the dinner where he was talking about that "breaking the laws of physics" nonsense…and that time that he knew all of your passwords before you did…and then today with the mistletoe. Where the hell have you been?! There were plenty of opportunities that could've happened but didn't. Swallow your pride and talk to him already!!_

"_I know, I know." _she shouted inside her head. "That's something that your father and I are going to have to talk about. It's not something I expect you to worry about." she finally found the courage to trust her voice.

"Okay. Can I have a hug?" he opened his arms for her.

Brennan laughed and met the boy's request. He wrapped his arms around her neck patted her dark-brown hair softly.

"I love you, Bones." he whispered. She felt tears sting behind her eyelids as she forced them back. She tried to explain it anthropologically, telling herself it was a natural reaction to her feminine, motherly instincts, but failed to convince herself completely with science. For the first time since she was fifteen, she felt loved unconditionally. Who knew that one small child could fill that void she'd felt since her abandoned childhood?

"I love you, too, Parker." she rubbed his back soothingly. There wasn't anything else she could or wanted to say. "Get some sleep or Santa's going fly right over this place." she smiled. Brennan didn't know when she started lying to children. It was probably around the same time that Parker figured out that she was in love with Booth.

It worked, though. The boy giggled and buried his head underneath the pillow, hardly able to wait until morning came. She patted the lump in the bed and turned out the light. Brennan watched for a moment as the lump settled down into slow, rhythmic breaths. She then gently closed the door and allowed herself a minute to pull her thoughts together.

She should've seen it years ago when Angela was badgering her to go for it and ask Booth out. She, however, thought wiser of it at the time and decided not to get into a relationship with guy that she would later work with so closely. Brennan thought that Booth was just being a jerk when he would refuse to take her out into the field if it was dangerous and avoidable. She'd attributed it to his alpha-male qualities to protect those weaker than himself. Now, the reasons for his actions were more distinguishable and made more sense. All the times he didn't want her to have a gun, guard her from sociopaths, and left her behind at the lab were because…he loved her.

Brennan couldn't make sense of it. She decided the best thing to do was to talk to him about this (duh…). She wiped away any stray tears that might have escaped her eyes and any other evidence to indicate she was crying. She took a deep, shuddering breath and walked towards the stairs.

It wasn't until now that she realized almost all of the lights were turned off. When she was at the bottom of the stairs, she saw Booth sitting on the couch tinkering with what looked like a child's toy. The only light was from the multi-colored lights of the Christmas tree. All thoughts flew from her head as she took notice of what he was wearing. "Booth, what are you wearing?"

Booth hushed her, "I'm Santa, just in case those two get any hair-brained ideas to come down here. Parker asleep?" he whispered.

She was too lost in his outfit. He sported a red and white fluffy coat, pants, and hat. Black boots were pulled over his feet and a white beard muffled his words slightly. "Huh? Oh, yes. He's asleep." she whispered with a chuckle.

"Ha, ha. Very funny. Anyway, you and I are on toy arrangement duty. We get to put together the hard stuff and put the rest under the tree." he gestured goofily with a screw-driver.

"Booth, I think we need to talk about something first." she tentatively walked toward the couch.

He nodded and gently put the screw-driver down. "Can I just say one thing first?"

"Sure."

"It's 12:01. Merry Christmas, Bones." he grinned.

"Merry Christmas, Booth." she smiled.

They looked each other square in the eye, smiles still lighting them slightly and noticable in the dim light. This was the moment each was waiting for. The line was enjoyably crossed. Neither could tell what the other was thinking. No matter what happened here tonight, the was a whole crap-load of secrets that were gonna come kicking and screaming to the light.

"Okay. Let's talk."

****

_I know, I just keep making you guys angrier and angrier with me and my cliffys. I had to do this one though so I keep my mind straight. Technically a new day has started so I need make a new chapter for it. _

_I know everyone wants to know what happens next. The only way to find out is if you leave me reviews. Please click that button people!!_


	5. Christmas Dawn

**_IMPORTANT NOTES (MUST READ): Due to the plentiful reviews I got from this story, it's inspired me to make this story the first in "The Secret" series. There will be another posted involving everyone's favorite crime solvers ASAP. Haven't decided on title for next one yet._**

**Chapter Five: Christmas Day**

_12:02 a.m._

Brennan didn't really know how to start this inevitable conversation. She wished she'd written it out on paper, it would've made this all even a little easier. She wasn't one to just talk openly about her feelings, especially with Booth. Sure, they'd debated points of view on several subjects, the one at hand included, many times, usually with onlookers. But now, here alone with Booth with only one thing to talk about, made her feel something that she hadn't felt in a long time: nauseous.

"You want me to start?" Booth said through the Santa beard.

If there was one thing that he could do, if it were possible, he could read her mind like an open book. "Please?"

He breathed a long, heavy sigh. Apparently this wasn't easy for him either. He scratched the back of his head, wracking his brain for a way to start this awkward talk.

"How long have you known me?"

"A few years." she supplied the easy answer.

"In those years, how many times have we had each others backs in tough situations?" he threw the hat aside.

Brennan buried her head in her hands, not having to even think about the answer, "Every time." she whispered.

The response barely made it to his ears. Booth tucked a hand under her chin to bring her eyes to meet his own. She'd never seen his eyes so dark. "Why do you think that is, Bones?"

She stuttered. For once, Temperance Brennan didn't know what to say to someone. She paused, breathed, and tried again. "T-The first case you brought me out in the field for, you told me that partners share things. T-that it builds trust." In her own mind, she sounded like an idiot.

In Booth's, she sounded…human, feminine almost. "That's a hundred percent true, but do you think that there could be…other reasons?" he asked.

Neon blue met chocolate brown. The electricity that had been sparking there in those gazes for years was no longer deniable. To quote a famous play, they were past the point of no return.

"There's no way I can go back to work in two days and not think about what's changed here." he stated evenly. His head dropped to the floor.

"I don't know if I can either." Brennan finally spoke a full sentence as her eyes returned to the oak floor.

She was confused to an unending hell. She wanted to be with Booth so badly and didn't even realize it till this moment. All those dreams she'd had on those cold, lonely nights always involved him. Those 'guy hugs' that seemed to drag on a little longer than necessary. Now, that kiss. Her mind swirled with thoughts of what was happening while fighting a losing battle with her heart. Brennan was so warped by her internal war, she wasn't aware of the tear that had tracked down her cheek.

Booth hadn't missed it. He was right there, his thumb gently stroking away the only sign of weakness she'd allotted herself every blue moon. With this gentle motion, he'd successfully returned her gaze to him. Her eyes seemed to change colors more often than a disco ball. More often than not, they were a cerulean blue, but sometimes they would fade to a charcoal gray, or occasionally a lime green. But Booth didn't know what to call this color. It seemed all of those hues came together in those twin pools of confusion and frustration. They were as deep blue as he'd ever seen them with little specks of green and gray there to cloud that sea blue. That gaze alone could silently kill a man, namely him.

There was only one thing that Booth could think to do to reassure her. He held her cheek in his hand still, gently scrubbing away the unwanted liquid. He moved in closer, so obviously in her personal space bubble. Without giving himself the chance to talk himself out of it, he kissed her soundly.

She didn't resist. Brennan was far past trying to fight what made her feel so alive. She couldn't explain to herself what it was or when it got there, and frankly, she didn't care to know. This was just a feeling of…happiness.

When they'd broken apart to breathe, Booth was the one to speak.

"I care about you, Bones, and not just as a friend."

She knew it was coming, but still couldn't get over the shock that those three simple words sent up her trembling spine. Her face flushed and her she tried to draw on her shaking lungs.

Booth had to speak again with her silence. "Somewhere, I think I always have."

"I…" Brennan couldn't form her words into sentences. _"What am I supposed to say?" "You say what you feel, Tempe." "If you do that, you run the risk of getting hurt." "Remember what Booth said: all the hurt in the world is worth the love." _Her heart and her head dueled viciously.

"Booth,…I've felt these weird feelings for a long time around you. Don't get me wrong, they feel good, but…" she fought for words, "I feel more than friendship towards you. I find myself wondering what you think of me, taking extra time in the morning to look good, I even started wearing perfume a few months ago."

"I noticed. It smells great, by the way." he acknowledged.

"It makes me feel like an idiot. Then sometimes I get this peculiar feeling deep in my gut that's not really like nausea and it's not indigestion…"

"Butterflies."

"If you mean it feels like butterfly wings beating in my stomach, then yes, that's an accurate description of what I've been experiencing." she whispered softly.

Booth stroked her back soothingly. He knew this wasn't a cakewalk for her and tried to provide as much comfort as he could in such an awkward situation. "Bones, would it make you feel better if we just kept this little shift in our relationship secret from everyone else for a little while…until we adjust ourselves?"

She thought about the idea of having a secret. It would give her time to investigate her own emotions further without feeling the pressure that would most certainly come from Angela. "Yes, I think that would make me more comfortable…if I don't go and unknowingly tell someone."

He laughed.

"What?" she asked.

"If you don't go and blow it, Bones."

"Alright, whichever you like best." she chuckled.

He held her eyes again with his deep brown ones again. This time, he went for the whole-hearted passionate kiss. The single factor that made this one the best yet was the fact that she'd met him halfway.

Nothing else mattered anymore. No one had to know what had happened on this fateful trip for a while. No one had to notice the shift in the lives of the anthropologist and her F.B.I. agent. The secret would be kept for as long as possible.

***

**_Thank you so much for reading "Jingle Bones". It really has started new thoughts in my head. Please keep an eye out for my next installment in this new series that this story inspired called "The Secret Series"._**


End file.
